As it approaches Cult Classic status, its worth thinking about how Jennifer’s Body is both a brilliant deconstruction of gender in horror but (sadly to its box office detriment) a great example of the old notion of sex sells doesn’t just fail to generate sales, it actively harms many productions.
The movie was horribly misrepresented in marketing, largely because the studio was convinced the only reason anyone would want to see a Megan Fox movie was to ogle her body. That is: They assume all decisions about whether a movie is worth watching are made by developmentally stunted cishet men (the only demographic who wouldn’t work out there were plenty of places you could already ogle Megan… largely due to movie studios).
Despite what overpaid executives in suits who paid someone to do their exams for them will tell you, nobody actually benefits from the proliferation of this sort of marketing.
- People interested in feminist themes don’t get works containing them identified as such to them
- People wanting to watch stuff not about conventionally attractive women have to search to find out what things are actually about
- Developmentally stunted cishet manchildren end up watching lots of stuff that they don’t understand and sometimes they get upset and review bomb it or cry at everyone in public
It’s just not good for anyone.
– wincenworks